MUMBAI: The All India Management Association (AIMA) two-day 3rd World Marketing Congress highlighted the need for a fundamental change in marketing in the age of digital media and empowerment of the consumer.
ABP News CEO Ashok Venkatramani said, “As world of marketing is changing rapidly every day, traditional media has to change ways of communicating with people and have to go where the audience is going rather than where media wants to take them”.
The theme of the congress was “Marketing Myopia 2.0”. On the second and the final day of the event, the eminent speakers shared their insights on many urgent marketing issues, including big data and analytics, future relevance of the traditional media, the role of NGOs in marketing social causes and the relevance of advertising agencies in the new era.
Talking on the relevance of traditional media in the current scenario, . Microsoft India CMO Shefalika Saxena said,” Traditional media is not at all losing relevance. Media is only media and not new or old, which is constantly changing and evolving. It’s not about newspapers or television or any other media but it’s how one uses that media to engage with the customers to sell or to market a product.”
Speaking about the importance of analytics in marketing, Clifford Patrao, Director and Leader, Strategy & Transformation-Global Business Services, India/South Asia, IBM India, said: “Analytics are for enriching customers experience and to make product branding more user friendly. We are seeing an era where data is empowering marketing and marketers.”
During the two-day event the participants also discussed the new age consumers, extending product life cycles, defining business based on customers and not products, using Internet to gain competitive advantage and the rising importance of earned media.
On the first day of the congress, the Congress Chairman & Chairman & R K Swamy BBDO MD Srinivasan K Swamy emphasised the challenges faced by the marketers in this age of digital media and consumers changing behaviour.
Making a presentation on the occasion, AIMA president D Shivakumar had highlighted the fundamental change in marketing, denoting the era to brand experience rather than of product branding. He also stressed that marketers could no longer treat the digital media as a niche.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of the AIMA’s R K Swamy High Performance Brand of the year Award, which was bagged by Apollo Tyres this year. Rajesh Dahiya, National Head, Sales & Marketing, Apollo Tyres received the award.
The Congress was conducted in an experience-sharing, interactive mode, encouraging high level of participation by the delegates. The event format included presentations and experiences by some of the most renowned names of the marketing world.
The Congress attracted more than 350 participants. The Congress afforded the delegates an opportunity to learn from the experts and share branding experience and insights with their peers.
